It’s been cold and warm, calm and windy this week. Folks almost always find some biting fish, and this week is no different. Grab your coveralls and get in on some of the best fishing of the year.
River guages Thursday, December 12 were:
• Clyo on the Savannah River – 4.9 feet and falling
• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee
– 3.3 feet and rising
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 6.4 feet and rising
• Waycross on the Satilla – 8.2 feet and falling
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 6.4 feet and falling
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 4.7 feet and rising
• Macclenny on the St Marys – 2.8 feet and rising
• Fargo on the Suwannee
– 3.5 feet and rising
Altamaha River – The river is getting right for lots of species.
Jamie Hodge fished the lakes in the lower river two days last week and fooled his limit of crappie each day by spider-rigging minnows. His biggest fish were over a pound.
Justin Lee and Caleb Turner bass fished the lower river and had a good bite. They fooled six bass and three pickerel by flinging bright-colored crankbaits. They tried plastic worms first but only had a few bites and no hookups.
Bill Stewart and I fished the lower river and we caught a total of 30 fish (20 crappie – our target) of six species. We found crappie in the oxbows and caught them on 1/16-oz. popsicle and Tennessee shad Specktacular Jigs and 1/16-oz. Mirage Jigs both with and without a minnow.
We had four fish over a pound, and our biggest was 1-lb., 3-oz. We picked up a few nice bass on the crappie jigs. Bill caught a 3 1/2-pounder on his confidence bait – a Texas-rigged black-fire tail plastic worm. The catch of the day was a 1lb., 4-oz. redear sunfish (shellcracker) that inhaled a popsicle Specktacular Jig.
Another angler fishing the river that day fooled a great mess of crappie by easing along with four float rigs baited with minnows.
St. Marys River – Fermen Dasher and his nephew, Larry, fished the middle section of the river and had a really nice mess of bluegills and a few crappie and bass.
They flung beetlespins. Larry did best for bluegills by tipping his with a piece of worm. He returned another day and caught a couple dozen panfish, including crappie, bluegill, stumpknockers, and redbreasts.
I fished the middle river and ended up catching 27 fish of six different species by myself. The best presentation was a 1/16-oz. Mirage Jig tipped with a minnow (2/3 of the fish on the jig were when it was tipped with a minnow and 1/3 with just a plain jig.
Okefenokee Swamp – An angler fishing the east side caught a nice mess of fliers by pitching red wiggler worms in the canal.
The most recent water level (Folkston side) was 120.94 feet.
Local Ponds – Chip Lafferty had a great trip at a Brunswick area pond. His biggest bass were 7-4, 6-3, and 5-13, and he had a handful of smaller bass, as well.
Tripp has been whacking the bass in their Guyton area pond by slow-rolling catalpa-colored Satilla Spins.
